First, the Pistons can't continue to lose to bad teams. If that trend continues, it's going to be a very long season.

Second, since the Kings game Saturday night, this is a long off streak and there has been plenty of time for practice. Webber ought to be pretty well integrated. Delfino might even have gotten some practice time at the point.

Rest, practice, a resurging McDyess, and CB at 100% - ought to add up to a convincing win.

I did not pay too much attention to the prior two losses, but it seems that the Bobcats can take advantage of the Pistons' aging front line if Okafor and crew put forth a good effort. Prince and GWallace are both guys that excel at doing the little things very well. Billups and Rip should have a field day with whoever the Bobcats trot out there, and that should be the difference in this game. Hopefully the Pistons can keep building momentum by beating a team they are supposed to beat.

The Raptors had success throwing some zone defense at the Bobcats on Monday night. Charlotte scored a grand total of 8 points in the 3rd quarter.

We got it handed to us tonight. It is that simple," Charlotte coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "The zone kind of threw us out of character."

"I was talking to Jeff McInnis after the game and he was like, 'Man, that zone killed us," Toronto forward Morris Peterson said. "Our zone defense saved us tonight because I think individually we weren't playing as we wanted to."

I suspect this could turn into a Detroit smackdown. We just need our beloved and productive beat writers to keep asking the Pistons why this lousy 'cats team keep stealing their lunch. Maybe they will feel disrespected enough to lay the hurt down.

Flip: "Oh guys, before you leave I have one more thing...don't forget to play some defense tonight...K...thanks."

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I'm sure you are aware that the Pistons aren't soley coached by Flip Saunders. The staff includes:

* Dave Cowens, NBA All-Defense 1st team, twice on 2nd team
* Terry Porter, 23rd in the NBA with 1583 Career Steals
* Ron Harper, three times was in the top 10 in season steals (3rd in 1987)

The notion believed by many that the Pistons never work on defense is just downright silly. Even without Ben Wallace, the Pistons are still 6th in the NBA in points allowed and 4th in field goal percentage defense. I'll be the first to admit that they still need some serious improvement if they hope to contend this year. The rules have changed the way teams play defense and the Pistons, as well as all the other teams, are still trying to adapt.

I'm sure you are aware that the Pistons aren't soley coached by Flip Saunders. The staff includes:

* Dave Cowens, NBA All-Defense 1st team, twice on 2nd team
* Terry Porter, 23rd in the NBA with 1583 Career Steals
* Ron Harper, three times was in the top 10 in season steals (3rd in 1987)

The notion believed by many that the Pistons never work on defense is just downright silly. Even without Ben Wallace, the Pistons are still 6th in the NBA in points allowed and 4th in field goal percentage defense. I'll be the first to admit that they still need some serious improvement if they hope to contend this year. The rules have changed the way teams play defense and the Pistons, as well as all the other teams, are still trying to adapt.

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There is plenty of blame to go around. Flip is responsible for his staff. Just as Dumars is responsible for Flip. If they aren't getting the job done then fire them, regardless of their individual accomplishments as players. Being a great player does not translate to being a great coach.

However, FLIP is the coach and he is going to be the recipient of the blame when there are apparent coaching deficiencies on his staff. I'm sure he gets paid more than Porter, Harper and Cowens, so I would imagine there are responsibilities that come with the territory. If they start winning, FLIP, not the others will receive most of the credit.

People can throw as many stats out there as they see fit...when it comes down to crunch time, I don't see Detroit making the stops. I have no clue what goes on in practice. I'm wondering if Flip does. He's given me no reason to have confidence in him and in fact, has given me lots of reasons to doubt he is the right guy for the job.

Show me some stats and positive results from the playoffs (i.e. winning).

I would say our defense is top notch when we work as a team and play with a lot of energy. Statistically, we're not very good considering how few possessions there are in a Pistons game. You could say our defense is predicated on the speed of the game much more so than the specific schemes.

Whever players are asked they always mention the emphasis on offense. There is only a finite amount of time to devote to practice. They practice defense but it doesn't seem like its on equal footing with offense.

Other surprising stats:
We own the best differential between shots blocked (#1) and getting our shots blocked (#3). We are almost the best on both sides of the equation. That is a testament to us blocking shots from every position; Sheed (63 blocks), Naz (37), Tay (29), Davis (27), Dice (24), JMax (21), Rip (12), CB (11), Flip (7), and Delf (4). This is better than a team with a dominant blocker, because they won't be able to adjust their game play to avoid all of our guys in the playoffs.

And the only 2 teams that get blocked less than us are Phoenix and Dallas. We don't play the same style as them, so I think it reflects the bball IQ of our players. They have a good feel for when they shouldn't force a shot.

Nice win by the boyz in blue. signing of Cwebb is paying dividends >3-1 so far and the loss was without CB.

All five starters get in double figures. I think CWebb may be reenergizing Sheed. Tay struggled but hit a key 3 down the stretch. In fact even with the Bobcats in the penalty from the 10 minute mark, the Pistons were able to stretch the six pt 3rd qtr lead and eventually pull away without giving up a bunch a points at the FT line.

The bench didn't do that much, but they did hold their own while the starters rested with Hunter dropping in 6 pts and D Davis returning score two buckets.

Real test of extending the win streak will be vs the washington pretenders on Friday.

Nice win on the road. Can't wait for these guys to get used to C-Webb's passing. I haven't been able to catch to many games on T.V. and haven't seen CW play in awhile he is really good at finding the open cutter. Sheed finally woke up in the second half,if those two keep clicking like this game and we get rid of some dead wood for a legit backup pg this will get interesting coming up into the playoff push.